Hello, world! (And a tutorial.)

August 18, 2010

I know I have been gone for…well, a very long time. I didn’t even realize how long until my pal Yahaira pointed it out (thanks!). There are a million reasons for this, which I will NOT bore you with here. Instead, I will provide the tutorial I promised a LONG time ago. I can’t even bring myself to look and determine how long ago it was. But I hope y’all know how much I have missed you!

Without further ado…THE FAST AND FUN WAY TO MAKE FLYING GEESE!

Someone in my guild pointed out when I did the demo at our July meeting that it wastes a lot of fabric. She was right; it does. But once you get the hang of it, you can just choose what parts of the fabric you want to focus on, and let the rest go by the wayside. And I would choose fun over fabric conservation any day, as y’all know, since I am more improvisational than most people. But I would urge you to try this and a different method at the same time and see which you prefer. I will be surprised if you ever look back after you try this!

I would like to note that the picture quality is sub-par and that there is text on some of the images because I used them in a handout, but this should not impede your ability to make fabulous FGs from this tutorial.

Step 1: Start with three pieces of fabric: two squares and one rectangle. Your rectangle should be the exact size that your two squares would be if sewn together. This means that, for example, you could use a 4″ by 7.5″ rectangle with two 4″ squares (that is what I use in this tutorial).

Other good sizes are: 5″ by 9.5″ rectangle with two 5″ squares, 3″ by 5.5″ rectangle and two 3″ squares…you get the point. Don’t think about the math too much. You wouldn’t really want blocks any bigger or smaller than these anyway.

Step 2: Fold your rectangle in half:

Step 3: Place it on top of one of your squares. Then place the other square on top of that. This is called “making a sandwich” (cheesy, I know).

Step 4: Pin them together near the four raw edges.

Step 5: With the raw edges closest to you, sew along the right side of the sandwich with a 1/4″ seam.

Step 6: Open up your sandwich

Step 7: Iron down one side (I do the right side because I am right-handed)

Step 8: OPEN and watch the magic happen.

Step 9: Iron and reflect upon the ease with which you created this.

This will be a little weird at first. Do it once, carefully, and you will have the hang of it already! And you will easily be able to make a top like this one:

Be careful when you sew the blocks together, though. They sit on top of the background fabric (as you can see in the bottom photo), and you don’t want them to pouch out. You want them to lay flat to make it easier for you to quilt it.

I would like to note that I have not progressed very far past where I was when this photo was taken…I have only added one of the two borders I plan to add. But I love it as much as the day I took this photo!

GOOD LUCK and if you do this, please e-mail me or comment here and tell me what you think of this technique! And also, please e-mail or comment if you have questions!